U.S. Pat. No. 3,765,301 issued in the name of Victor Pagano and Harry Spiro discloses a ballistic louver module comprising a flat steel base plate 14 having louvers 12 attached thereto by welding. The flat steel base plate undesirably adds considerable weight to the module, especially if the plate is to have sufficient thickness to withstand excessive heat distortion stresses incident to the louver welding operations. Reliance on welding as a joining method is disadvantageous in that it undesirably limits the choice of louver materials to those which can be readily fabricated by such a method. In the case of steel, high hardness medium carbon material (0.4%C) is not readily fabricated by welding procedures. Also, welding reduces hardness in the heat-affected areas. The present invention contemplates a louver assembly method that avoids use of welding.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,265,299 issued in the name of Victor Pagano and Zygmunt J. Fabrykowski discloses an envelope or hollow panel member for holding armor elements. The envelope in this design can also add undesirable weight to the final armor panel used in vehicle application. The present invention provides louver modules that have lighter weights than the prior art modules while retaining substantially the same or better ballistic performance. Thus, on an equal protection basis the herein described method of construction provides a more effective armor design for vehicle application.